Tesla says rival Rivian continued to steal trade secrets and poach staff even after Tesla filed a lawsuit 14 months ago, a report says

• Tesla filed a lawsuit against Rivian in 2020, saying Rivian stole trade secrets via new recruits.
• Tesla has now said Rivian also stole "highly proprietary" battery tech this summer, per Bloomberg.
• Rivian said Tesla's new claims were unsupported by facts, Bloomberg reported.

Tesla has added new accusations to its legal case against rival electric-vehicle company Rivian, Bloomberg reported.

Tesla filed a lawsuit against Amazon-backed Rivian in July 2020, saying Rivian stole highly confidential trade secrets through newly hired employees who previously worked for Tesla.

In a filing last month, Tesla re-asserted those accusations, saying that Rivian has continued to poach staff and that it had stolen "highly proprietary" battery technology since the suit was filed, according to a report by Bloomberg.

"Now apparently under pressure from investors after nearly a dozen years without producing a single commercial vehicle, Rivian has intensified its unlawful efforts," Tesla said in its new filing, per Bloomberg.

A California state judge allowed the new allegations to be added to the case, Bloomberg reported.

Rivian had objected to this, arguing that Tesla's new claims were unsupported by the facts and could delay the case being resolved, Bloomberg reported. Rivian's argument that Tesla's battery claims were unsupported by evidence had "some appeal to it," the judge wrote in a September ruling, as reported by Bloomberg.

Rivian said in its own filing that Tesla, in many cases, had not specified what trade secrets Rivian was supposed to have stolen, Bloomberg reported.

"For several of its trade secrets it has provided so little detail that Rivian is unable to ascertain what Tesla is claiming as its intellectual property, let alone whether what it is claiming is or could be secret," Rivian wrote, per Bloomberg.

Rivian declined to comment on Tesla's new filing when contacted by Insider.

Rivian has tried to have Tesla's case against it dismissed, but in March a judge ruled the lawsuit could proceed.

Rivian is preparing for an IPO later this year, and Bloomberg reported in August that it was aiming for a valuation of $80 billion.

The company started building its R1T pickup truck - a direct rival to Tesla's Cybertruck - in September. The company told Insider it would start deliveries of the R1T the same month.